1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to masonry guides for use in laying brick in general and more particular to the laying of brick columns.
2. General Background
Masonry guides have long been used to aid the mason in the proper alignment of successive courses of brick or block. A specific aspect of masonry deals with the construction of piers or columns. Such columns are used as support structures for frame construction, iron fences, decorative covering for structural members and the like. It is essential that courses of each successive layer of such columns be both plumb and level. Since in many cases the construction of brick or block columns is more decorative than functional, and time spent leveling and aligning the column simply adds cost to the construction process, it is therefore highly desirable that equipment be developed which will reduce labor cost. Efforts in this regard include such devices as those taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,457,649, 4,631,833, 4,866,851, 4,970,797, and 5,001,839. However, each of these patents teaches the necessity of attaching the guides in some manner to the structure being built or at least to a frame structure adjacent the brick work. When constructing a brick column, it is simply not practical to attach the coursing guide to the brick work and in some cases there is no adjacent frame structure available to which the guide may be attached. It is also essential that a brick column guide mechanism be erected and utilized as quickly as possible without the need to secure and align brackets and other such attachments to the lower courses before a guide mechanism can be employed. When erecting brick columns it is very time consuming to use strings and erect corner posts to ensure true vertical and horizontal coursing due to the very short runs in each direction. Therefore, there is a need to provide a brick coursing guide which can be easily erected by a brick layer, aligned independently of the building structure, adjusted incrementally from the first course to any reasonable height and adjusted incrementally for various size columns.